What Happened To Quinn Fabray
by otheralias
Summary: Quinn gave up her baby, her parents divorced, and Quinn felt lost. After retreating for the summer, she came back to school as a Skank member. She tries to fit in with her new image, but when something happens to her mother, it leads Quinn's life down bad spiraling path. Santana/Quinn friendship, Faberry ship. Warning: Triggers for later chaps. This fic gets dark.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** : Hello, everyone! Just a quick little note, this fic is going to get dark in the later chapters! Warnings/Triggers for abuse, including sexual abuse will be there, just and fyi. Russell Fabray turns his life to shit and Quinn kind of gets stuck in the consequences (I didn't have room to add that in the description). So keep that in mind for the future! Things will get a little dark. Again, this is a Santana/Quinn friendship based, and a Faberry ship based fic. Enjoy!

* * *

Quinn had changed a lot over the summer. Maybe she wouldn't have if she hadn't felt so abandoned by everyone. After she had given up her baby, everyone acted differently to her, like they had to be careful what to say around her. There had also been several occasions when she'd walk into glee or join her friends at lunch, and they'd stop talking before bringing up another topic of discussion. She didn't like the feeling of being talked about behind her back. So when the school year ended, Quinn retreated for the summer.

She spent a lot more time online, talking to random people on the Internet. She pushed away her friends, even if Rachel tried to call and Puck tried to stop by. Things were weird at home anyway. Her parents divorced, her dad left, and her sister didn't come home from college this summer. Quinn decided to stay in her room as much as possible, even though her mother kept bothering her, kept trying to talk to her, to take her out. Quinn simply wanted to be left alone. She didn't know if any of the choices she had made, like giving up Beth, was right and she felt lost and in the dark.

By the time school had started, Quinn had gone out of her way to change her look. Dyed hair, dark clothes, nose pierced, and she even took up smoking, though she hardly inhaled. She kind of hated the taste. But it got people to leave her alone, for the most part. She knew Santana and Brittany were practically inseparable, which is why they had no right to try to guilt her into joining the Cheerios and glee again. They didn't actually need her. Quinn wasn't doing it and that was the end of it. She liked her new image and her new attitude. She was so over trying to hold up this image that no one even liked. So she'd become someone else.

It wasn't so bad being a Skank. The only difficulties Quinn had was forcing herself not to care. She always followed the rules as a child and still tried to follow the rules once she was in high school. She liked to please people because it often allowed her to get what she wanted. That's why it felt strange to do whatever she wanted with complete disregard to following rules or pleasing someone else. But she ignored those feelings and continued to skip class, smoke, and leave school grounds whenever she felt like it.

Her mother had tried to fix it before it got too bad. She called her father, sent her to a psychiatrist, begged, pleaded, bribed. But nothing she did made Quinn go back to the way she was before. If anything, Quinn tried harder to make her mother nervous. After all, she caused a lot of these problems. Drinking too much, letting her father control the house and kick her out when she got pregnant, trying to buy her love all the time instead of showing it... Quinn felt Judy deserved this.

That was, until the second Monday into going back to school. Quinn left before the day was over, (pretended to) smoke under the bleachers with her Skank friends, and then went home. When she arrived, she found her mother in the living room, sitting on the couch with what appeared to be whiskey in a glass in her hand. There were tears on her face.

Quinn was stunned to silence for a moment. Usually Judy hid the fact that she was a day drinker, which was causing Quinn to be worried.

"Mom...?"

Judy didn't look over. It seemed like she didn't even hear her.

"Mom," Quinn said a little louder and moved into the room, starting to worry that someone had died. "What's going on?"

There were a few sniffles from Judy before she spoke softly. "I have cancer."

She didn't look at her daughter. She still hadn't made any movement. Judy was simply staring straight ahead still, transfixed by something that wasn't even there. She was seeing the end of a life she'd never get to experience. All thoughts of weddings for her children, holidays, grandchildren... she'd never see them. She should have forced Quinn to keep Beth at home with them. At least she would have had that joy for a short time.

Quinn felt like she could hear her heartbeat as it pounded in her chest. Her legs were numb as she stepped further into the room.

"What...?" she asked softly. It was a tone her mother hadn't heard in a long time. Quinn had spoken harshly to her mother since the day she dyed her hair pink.

It caused Judy to look up, to look over at her daughter. "The doctors say I only have a few months left, even with treatment."

This didn't feel real. This was a bad dream, a nightmare. Quinn shook her head slowly. "No... How... How could you be that sick...? You... you look fine." Was this a joke? A sick, twisted joke? Quinn took a few more steps closer. "What... what kind of cancer?"

"Pancreatic." Judy sniffled and drew in a breath. "St-stage four. I hadn't felt fine for a while. It took some time for the doctors to figure it out, but... I'm going to do the chemotherapy anyway, try to extend what little time I have left."

Quinn looked her over. Her mother already seemed defeated. She didn't seem like she was ready to fight this. But Quinn knew this was serious, this was real. "Mom…" She didn't know what to say. She thought she should say something inspiring, encouraging, but she came up with nothing. "You shouldn't be drinking." She stepped forward and took the glass away from her and set it aside on the coffee table. "Have you called Nana?"

"No... not yet." Judy's gaze fell, staring straight ahead again.

"Doctors, they can be wrong all the time," Quinn said and sat on the chair next to the couch her mother was on. Her eyes were full of tears. "They say one thing and then people live so much longer. I'm sure they're wrong. I'm sure you have more time than…" She couldn't say it, that there were only a few months left.

Judy looked over at her daughter, tears shining in her eyes. "You don't know that, Quinnie. Only God knows."

Quinn held her gaze until she couldn't anymore. She stood and swiped at her own tears, pacing the room. "Can I do something for you? Are you hungry? Do need to lie down? When are you starting treatments? Do I need to drive you?" She stopped and looked at her mom. Suddenly Quinn needed to do something for her. She had to, but Judy just shook her head.

"No…" She forced herself to stand. "But I am going to lie down."

"And the treatments?" Quinn asked. "When are you doing those?"

"Tomorrow," Judy answered her and drew in a breath.

"What time?" Quinn moved closer to her, wondering if she should touch her arm, or to hug her or… something. "I can take you, if you need me to. I'll skip school."

"Your father will take me," Judy told her.

Quinn could only stare. "What?"

"He's coming back to Lima while I'm in treatment," Judy explained and began to head toward the hallway.

"Why?" Quinn didn't understand why her dad would come back. They were divorced now. Didn't her mom want someone else taking care of her?

"I'm going to lie down, Quinnie…"

Quinn was still stunned into silence as Judy moved off to the stairs and went up them. Quinn felt sick and too warm. She grabbed her mother's drink she had set aside and downed the liquor. She needed that burn in her throat, in her belly. She set the empty glass down and decided on her next course of action. Her mother was dying and she felt alone.

* * *

"What are you doing here?"

Santana looked at Quinn, disgusted. Ashamed, Quinn hung her head. Maybe she shouldn't have been so mean to Santana and Brittany when school started again. But it was just difficult to be nice when Quinn had felt so rejected by them all summer.

"I didn't have anyone else to go to…" Quinn admitted quietly.

"What about your Skanky friends?" Santana retorted.

Quinn shook her head slightly. "They're not really my friends." Finally, she lifted her head and met Santana's eye.

There was something in Quinn's expression that Santana didn't like, it made her concerned. But Santana didn't just bend over backwards. "I can give you, like, five minutes."

"My mom—" The words stuck in Quinn's throat and she felt like she might choke on them. How the hell was she going to be able to get this out and talk about it? It felt unreal to say, like it was an awful lie. But it wasn't a lie.

"Your mom what?" Santana raised an eyebrow. "Did she kick you out?"

Quinn shook her head again. "No, she's..." She drew in a deep breath. "She has cancer."

"Oh…" There was a long pause. " _Quinn_... I'm sorry."

Quinn wanted to respond but her tears overwhelmed her as she started to cry. Santana took her hand and pulled her inside. She closed the door and wrapped her arms around Quinn, hugging her tight.

"I'm here for you," Santana assured her. "Like, whatever you need... I'm here, okay?"

Hugging Santana back tightly, Quinn nodded. She pressed her face into Santana's neck as the other girl rubbed her back slowly. Santana didn't really know what else to do. She didn't know if Quinn wanted to talk or something, but she figured Quinn would be talking if she wanted to. So Santana simply kept hugging her.

Finally, Quinn's tears had died down and Santana led her into the living room, still holding her hand. She sat down on the couch and gave a tug to Quinn's hand. Letting out a slow breath, Quinn sat as well and swiped at the tears on her face with her free hand.

"When did you find out?" Santana asked her.

"Just now," Quinn answered and let out a shaky breath.

"Did you know she was, like, sick or anything?" Santana gave her hand a small squeeze.

Quinn shook her head. "We... weren't really on speaking terms. Like, I knew she had some doctor's appointments over the last few months, but I didn't, like, think much of them. She seemed _fine_."

Santana nodded. She couldn't imagine what Quinn was going through. "What kind is it?"

"Pancreatic." Quinn sniffled, feeling tears prick her eyes again. "She said... it's stage four. That's, like, the worst. And... the doctors said she has, like, months."

"What?" Santana's eyes widened. "No... That's awful. Quinn, I'm so sorry." She squeezed her hand. "But she can do chemo or something, right? That'll help her live longer, right?"

"Yeah," Quinn replied softly. "I mean, yeah, that's what I'm hoping... But... She's going to die…"

Santana felt tears in her own eyes. She had never ever seen Quinn this upset. She took both of Quinn's hands into her own.

"I'm here for you, Quinn," Santana reassured her. "All right? You come to me if you need anything." Santana suddenly felt really bad for basically blowing Quinn off all summer. But Quinn had been so mopey at the end of the school year and it was just more fun to hang with Britt. "Look, I'm sorry about the summer. I know, like, we should have hung out more. But I'm here for you now, okay?"

Quinn nodded. "Yeah…"

"You should think about talking to Coach and getting on the Cheerios again," Santana suggested. "Or coming back to glee club. I think it would help. We miss you."

Shaking her head, Quinn looked away. "Coach won't take me back."

"But Mr. Schue will," Santana told her and Quinn knew she was right, but she was getting tired and emotionally drained.

"I don't know…" Quinn released Santana's hands and stood. "But I should get home. I shouldn't have left my mom. She went to lay down."

Santana nodded and stood as well. "Call me later, okay?"

"I will, yeah…" Quinn paused a moment. "Thanks, Santana." She stepped in for a quick hug.

"No problem, Q." Santana gave her a squeeze. "Talk to you later."

When Quinn got home, she couldn't coax her mother into eating dinner and she found that she wasn't very hungry herself. She went up to her room and undressed to her underwear. Chewing her lip, she moved into the bathroom and took off her make-up. Then she removed her nose ring. She stared at her reflection for a long moment before she grabbed the rubbing alcohol and a loofah.

She had this stupid fake tattoo on her back. Her dad had sent her a couple hundred dollars, probably for school or something, but Quinn had used it on getting customized fake tattoos. It was a waste of money, she thought, looking back, but she had wanted to annoy her mother, but she also really didn't want a tattoo so this seemed like the best idea.

But there was no need to keep up appearances now. She was so stupid for wanting to piss off her mother like this. She scrubbed hard at the the offense on her skin and only felt relieved when there was nothing but black specks and a large red mark on her lower back. Quinn gave up on getting the rest off, took a quick shower, and went to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Hello, everyone! Here is chapter two! Enjoy! :D

* * *

There was closeness now between Santana and Quinn that wasn't discussed. Quinn hadn't told anyone else about her mother, but those who had been her friends before noticed a change. She wasn't hanging out with the Skanks anymore. Her nose ring was gone, she wasn't cutting class or smoking, and her Ryan Seacrest tattoo had mysteriously vanished. Her clothes were still dark, her hair still pink, but brownish blonde roots were coming through.

She spent her time alone mostly, reading during any free time. She conversed quietly with Santana sometimes, and Brittany felt she was missing out on something, but she never asked about it. Quinn ate lunch alone and turned down an offer from Rachel to sit with the glee group. She would much rather eat her sandwich and read in peace.

But she took Santana's words to heart. Quinn thought it would be a good distraction if she did try to join glee club again. Even though she wasn't really talking to her friends, joining glee would ease her back into their friendships, and maybe she would even open up to them on what was going on in her life.

Her mother's treatments zapped her energy and strength. Quinn tried to be helpful around the house. She made meals and did laundry and checked in on her mother often. Quinn realized quickly that she wished her father had not come back home. Things were different. Their relationship was strained, had been since he had kicked her out last year, and while he sent her some money when he lived in New York, being physically together was awkward and strange.

Her father seemed different, angrier, more sullen, and Quinn didn't like being around him. They didn't talk much and when they did, the conversation was stilted. Quinn ended up spending a lot of time in her room when she wasn't tending to her mother, mostly reading or chatting with Santana online.

And since Santana had convinced her to try to get involved with her former activities again, here Quinn was, outside of Mr. Schuester's classroom, just after the lunch bell had rung. She was hoping to catch him still in the room, and he was, wiping chalk off the board. Quinn stepped into the room and hesitated. She was nervous and she turned to go, then drew in a breath and faced him again.

"Mr. Schuester?"

"Quinn." His expression showed he was surprised to see her. Will set the eraser down. "Come in. What's up?"

Quinn approached, but didn't completely close the distance between them. "I was wondering... if I could join glee club again."

"Of course." He smiled at her. "We'd love to have you back."

She smiled back at him, relieved. That wasn't nearly as terrible as she was thinking it might go. "Thanks." Quinn turned to leave and planned to find Santana to tell her she would be at practice today.

"Quinn."

Quinn's smile faltered as she turned back around to face him again. Will moved closer to her and lowered his voice. "Is everything alright?"

She debated lying and telling him that everything was fine, but her expression changed without meaning to and tears pricked her eyes. Quinn hated that she got emotional in front of others, but that was happening more frequently lately. She'd cry at the smallest things.

"No... not really," she answered honestly.

Will sat on the edge of the desk beside him and spoke softly still. "What's going on, Quinn?"

"My mother's sick," Quinn told him, her voice coming out quiet and meek.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Will replied, concern etched on his face.

Quinn swallowed hard. "Yeah, she's... she's dying, Mr. Schue…" And then Quinn's throat was tight and the tears came full force, spilling hot down her cheeks. Embarrassed, she swiped them away.

"Quinn…" Will stood and wrapped her up in a tight hug. It may not have been advised, a teacher hugging a student, but he'd be damned to watch her cry and not do _anything_. "I am so, so sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

Sniffling, Quinn shook her head when he released her and took a step back. "No. There's not much anyone can do. But, um—" She sniffled again and swiped at her tears once more. "But thank you, for letting me join Glee again."

"Of course," Will told her. "And if there's anything else you can think of, anything at all that I can do, don't hesitate to ask. I'm here for you."

Quinn offered a tight smile and left the room. It was nice that people offered to do something for her, but if they couldn't cure her mom's cancer, there was nothing they could _actually_ do. Quinn didn't feel very hungry anymore and instead of heading to lunch, she hid out in the library to read.

* * *

Walking into glee club again felt surreal. Quinn honestly thought she'd never be part of it again. Everyone already present and seated stared at her the moment she walked in. She paused and looked around, spotting Santana, and sat on the other side of her, placing Santana between herself and Brittany.

She chose to stay quiet and not interact or try to draw attention to herself. The only person who continued to stare for longer than necessary was Rachel, who appeared downright cheerful at Quinn's presence. She held a wide smile on her face and Quinn chose to look anywhere, _but_ Rachel just to avoid her gaze alone.

When Will entered the room, he spotted Quinn instantly and smiled. "Hey, everyone, before we start, I want to welcome Quinn back to glee club. I think we can all agree it's great to have her back."

"Yeah it's good to see you, Quinn," Sam chimed in.

"Welcome back," Mercedes added with a smile.

Everyone else followed suit in sharing similar sentiments, but it didn't make Quinn feel better, only awkward. She didn't want the attention. She simply wanted to exist in this space with her friends, to try to get back to the life that existed before hers turned upside down.

Will announced it was time for vocal warm ups and everyone stood and gathered around the piano. Quinn hung back, not quite up for it just yet, but no one called attention to her not participating.

Once the warm ups were through, Will provided her with the sheet music for the songs they had been rehearsing, letting her know she could join in if she wanted, or listen and get a feel for them, whichever she preferred. Quinn chose to sit and take it all in. She would get used to glee club and everyone in it again, it was simply going to take a little bit of time.

* * *

"Is your mom home?" Santana asked as Quinn closed the front door behind her.

Quinn had invited Santana over for a Saturday night sleepover and she had been waiting around all day for her arrival. A sleepover felt like a normal thing to do in a life that suddenly wasn't normal anymore.

"Yeah, she's in her room," Quinn told her. "She's been pretty wiped out. I'll be checking on her a couple times, but she probably won't need much." Quinn offered a tight smile. Talking about caring for her mom felt uncomfortable. "Want some popcorn? We can watch a movie and chill."

"Sure." Santana dropped her bag off by the staircase.

Quinn led the way to the kitchen and grabbed a bag of microwave popcorn from the cabinet. She put it in the microwave and set the time. Santana leaned against the island counter, watching. Quinn moved to the fridge and opened the door, pausing as she scanned the items inside. "What do you want to drink? There's water, Diet Coke, regular Coke… juice."

"Juice with vodka?" Santana suggested with a raise of an eyebrow.

Quinn laughed. "Maybe next time. My dad's been going through my mom's alcohol. I don't know if I can sneak any away at the moment. Maybe when he restocks."

"So he's gone alcoholic now too?" Santana replied. She had known that Judy Fabray liked to indulge, but Quinn never mentioned Russell drinking a lot. She had never seen him drunk at the Fabray residence either. She often noticed Judy was buzzed though.

Quinn only shrugged in response and grabbed two Diet Cokes from the fridge. She set them on the island and dug through the cabinets until she found a large bowl for the popcorn. She didn't know what to make of her dad drinking. It wasn't like he didn't drink at all, he used to have a glass of scotch or something each night after work, but he didn't get drunk from it. Lately, he'd be drunk within an hour of getting home now. Quinn usually tried to avoid him.

"Is it bad with him back?" Santana asked when she realized Quinn wasn't going to verbally respond to what she had said.

"No." Quinn frowned as she faced her friend. "I don't know. He's weird, distant. We just don't get along. Maybe we never did."

"Is he staying here for good with you?" Santana replied. "Like… he's moved back in? Because he was in New York, right?"

"Yeah, in the city, but as far as I know, he's back for good." Quinn didn't like it, but she didn't have a say in any of this. Everything was happening _to_ her without her having a choice. "He has to be with me when my mom… whenever she…"

The microwave beeped and Quinn grabbed the bag of popcorn out, leaving the thought unfinished. She dumped the popcorn into the bowl and set the empty bag on the island. Santana grabbed the sodas and began for the doorway.

"Crap." Quinn heard the garage door. Her dad was home. "Let's get upstairs. He's home." She rolled her eyes and followed after Santana. Her dad had never liked Santana even though, in the beginning, Santana had been perfectly pleasant. It was only when Russell was starting to act like a jerk that Santana started to respond the same.

The door to the garage opened and Russell entered the kitchen. Quinn froze and glanced at him, debating on greeting him or just retreating upstairs. Santana was already in the hallway and picking her bag back up.

"What are you doing?" Russell called to them.

Frowning, Quinn took a moment before turning to face him and placed a neutral expression on her face. "Just made some popcorn. Santana and I are going to watch a movie. She's sleeping over."

"She is?" He took a few steps closed to them. "I don't remember agreeing to that."

"What do you mean?" Quinn glanced over to see that Santana had stopped and was watching them. Quinn moved closer to her father, not wanting him to cause some sort of scene or something. She wanted to escape upstairs with her friend. She didn't want to be bothered.

"You never asked my permission for your friend to sleep over," Russell explained, his tone calm and even.

Quinn frowned again. "I never had to ask Mom."

"Well, your mother is sick and I'm the head of the household," Russell told her. "I say what goes on in this house and she cannot sleep over."

Quinn glanced at Santana again, feeling both mortified and embarrassed that he was saying all of this in front of her. Santana joined them back in the kitchen and placed a wide and fake smile on her face.

"Well, actually Mrs. Fabray kind of said yes already," Santana said. "We stopped in and talked to her a bit when we came home and Quinn told her I was sleeping over. She didn't say no."

Russell stared at Santana then looked over at Quinn. It took him a moment before he spoke, his tone deeper. "Fine. Go on then."

Quinn turned away from him and shooed Santana back toward the hallway. She felt on edge and her heart was hammering. It upset her that her father was cold to her, like she was always bothering him.

"Quinn. One moment."

Swallowing hard and stopping, Quinn looked to Santana. "Go ahead and pick a movie. I'll be right up." She didn't want to be embarrassed again in front of her friend. Once Santana was more than halfway up the stairs, Quinn turned and stepped back into the kitchen.

"Come here," Russell said, his voice low. Quinn hesitated then moved forward. "You will not disrespect me like that in my own house. This is _my_ house, Quinn, not yours, not your mother's, and I will be given respect. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Quinn said quietly and looked away from him.

"Good." He smacked the popcorn bowl hard, knocking it from her hands and to the floor. "Now clean that up."

"Dad?!" Quinn looked up at him, shocked.

"Clean it. Up," he repeated sternly.

Sighing, Quinn knelt down on the floor, wondering why her dad was being such a dick. She started scooping the popcorn into the bowl when the empty popcorn bag was thrown at her.

"And clean up your trash."

He walked away to his study and Quinn glared at his backside until he was gone. She finished cleaning up the popcorn and dumped it into the trash, putting the empty popcorn bag in along with it. Quinn set the empty bowl in the sink and set about making a fresh bag. She was still fuming when she heard someone step into the kitchen.

"What's taking so long?" Santana asked.

Quinn didn't look over as she spoke and she tried to keep her tone light. "I dropped the popcorn."

Santana laughed. "Oh no." She leaned her back against the island. "What did your dad say?"

"Just that he was mad," Quinn answered dismissively.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Stupid."

"Yep." Quinn put a tight smile on her face.

"Well, good for us we can spend the rest of the night hiding in your room," Santana replied, easily being able to tell that Quinn was upset. "Fuck him, you know?"

"Yeah," Quinn agreed softly. "Fuck him."

She added the fresh popcorn to a new, clean bowl once the microwave beeped then headed upstairs with Santana. She was going to ignore everything that had happened with her dad and focus on having a good time with Santana instead. Quinn didn't want her father ruining her night. He was already doing a well enough job of ruining her life since he returned home.


End file.
